October 2018
1936. (Later, this race was retrospec-
tively re-named “The 1937 Australian
Grand Prix”) Several months before the
race, John Dutton driving the Vauxhall
near Mount Gambier, crashed off the
road and into the Blue Lake. Fortu-
nately, John survived the accident as he
was caught in bushes and saplings on
the steep slope down to the water, but
the Vauxhall continued into the Blue
Lake. It remained submerged at a depth
of about 75 metres for more than a year
and was not recovered before the Victor
Harbor race. Recently, on August 6 th
this year, “The Advertiser” published an
article regarding cars crashing into the
Blue Lake and included a photo of the
Vauxhall being salvaged.
With the Vauxhall unavailable, John
Dutton drove C0291 in the Grand Prix
and finished 10 th in a field of 27 cars.
Three K3s were starters but none of
them finished the 250 mile handicap.
The race was won by Les Murphy in a
P-Type MG, which started 35 minutes
before the Ford V8 special that actu-
ally set the fastest race time. A few
years later, Lou bought C0291 and the
repaired Vauxhall from different
sources. I don’t know when Lou got to
know John Dutton, but I do know that
they became good friends and did
some “spotlight shooting” at Anlaby. I
assume the cars were the catalyst for
their friendship.
During Lou’s ownership,(That was in the
early 1940s)
Lou told me that when he had C0291,
the body was quite rough because it had
been deliberately damaged to prevent
duty having to be paid when it was im-
ported from England. He said large
holes had been cut in the sides. Repairs
had been made, but the scars were still
evident. Australia at the time did not
have a car manufacturing industry, but it
did have a car body industry to protect.
Lou had two cylinder heads for C0291. I
think one was for use with supercharger
while the other was for “normally aspi-
rated” use.
Continued overleaf
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